The global economy may still be poor,
but some categories are doing well despite the economic downturn. One
of those categories is video games. One of the most anticipated video
game launches of all times is set to happen this week with a new game
called Call
of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

The game is set to hit stores
Tuesday and analysts are predicting massive sales for the game.
Activision has a lot riding on the launch according to Reuters.
Some analysts expect the game to count for as much as 16 cents of
Activision's earnings per share for the December quarter.

MKM
Partners analyst Eric Handler said, "This is the one game that
could buck the economic trend for the holiday season."

The
game will sell for about $60 per copy and Activision is partnering
with 12 retailers including GameStop and Best Buy to hold over 10,000
midnight launch events across the country. Estimates peg sales for
the game at 11 to 13 million units by the end of 2009. Activision CEO
Robert Kotick expects the game to be one of the biggest media
launches of any kind of all time.

Handler expects that the
game will sell about 5 million units on the first day of sales and a
total of 7 to 8 million games the first week. Those sales numbers
would put the game ahead of last year's top title, Grand Theft Auto
IV. The game will carry an M rating for violence and blood. Some of
the most popular aspects of the Call of Duty franchise centers around
the multiplayer aspects of the game, which the new version is sure to
have.

GameStop executive VP Tony Bartel said, "By all
indicators, we anticipate 'Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2' will be
the biggest entertainment launch of 2009, as well as the biggest
video game launch in GameStop's history."

"Intel is investing heavily (think gazillions of dollars and bazillions of engineering man hours) in resources to create an Intel host controllers spec in order to speed time to market of the USB 3.0 technology." -- Intel blogger Nick Knupffer